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GROTON — Merrimac's Pat Freiermuth returned a fumble 20 yards for a touchdown, and North Andover's Seamus Lambert had a 5-yard TD run to help lead Brooks past Groton 28-3.

The two local stars scored their touchdowns in the third quarter to help put the game away. Brooks scored its first TD on a 4-yard Jaylen Cromwell run, and Groton's Samuel Girian kicked a 23-yard field goal to make it 7-3 at halftime.

Andover's Maddy Silveira, a sophomore at Phillips, scored a whooping four goals in the Big Blue's season-opening 6-4 shootout win over Groton. Anna Hurley accounted for the other two goals for Phillips.

Phillips and Groton baseball played until the sun went down, finishing up tied 3-3 after 10 innings. Taylor Beckett and Kai Marcos each had sacrifice flies for the Big Blue, and Jackson Emus pitched four scoreless innings in relief.

Phillips quad-captain Beth Krikorian of Windham went off for five goals and four assists to lead her team to a 15-7 doubling up of Groton. 

Brooks rallied behind five 3-pointers and 19 total points from Ellie Cordes to beat Groton 43-36. Out of Brooks' 14 made field goals, nine of them were from long range.

GROTON — North Andover’s Seamus Lambert found Merrimac’s Pat Freiermuth for a 60-yard touchdown early in the first quarter, and Brooks was off to the races from there, blowing out Groton 36-0 on Friday afternoon.

Brooks fought from a 2-0 deficit in the first half to force overtime against Groton School. In the extra frame, Emma English took a pass from Eliza Peters and buried it to give Brooks the 3-2 win. Teagan Canning made nine saves for Brooks.

Monica Abou-Ezzi of North Andover drained six 3-pointers en route to a 19 point showing, but it wasn't enough as Brooks fell to Groton 49-44.

NORTH ANDOVER - Senior Jalen Martinez of Methuen rushed for 194 yards and two touchdowns as Brooks dominated Groton by a score of 42-6 on Senior Day.
Brooks scored twice in the first and second quarters to take a 28-0 lead going into halftime, and with the exception of one big Groton touchdown run in the third, prevented the opposition from ever coming close to the end zone.
"Jalen Martinez had a great game running the ball," said Brooks coach Pat Foley. "He runs hard and he has the ability to break some long ones, which has helped us get out of some holes, and I'm pleased with the way we threw the ball.
"We haven't thrown the ball a ton. That's kind of by design because we have a good running game, but I was pleased with the way Jake Hesse came out and threw the ball and made good decisions and got the ball to people."
Hesse got Brooks on the board early with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Tamenang Choh on the game's opening drive. On Groton's first possession Brooks pulled further ahead after Pentucket transfer Pat Freiermuth recovered a fumble and took it 42 yards to the house to make it 14-0.
From that point on, Martinez dominated the Groton defense, scoring each of his two touchdowns in the second quarter from 1 and 16 yards, respectively.
In the second half, Brooks began utilizing Jaylen Cromwell more, and he came through with 48 yards and two touchdowns on six carries. His first score came early in the third quarter on a 13-yard scamper, and the second came with 10:19 to play in the fourth from 15-yards out to wrap up the scoring.
Good as the offense was, the defense may have been the biggest star, and Freiermuth in particular. On the drive following his fumble return TD, Freiermuth blew up his blocker to record a sack for a 12-yard loss, and then shortly after he reeled in a one-handed interception near midfield to give Brooks a short field.
Freiermuth, who is repeating his sophomore year, also had a 22-yard catch. Foley said Freiermuth, who is his nephew, has done a nice job adjusting.
"I think it's been great for him," Foley said. "He played some quarterback last year and he's playing probably a more natural position for him as a tight end. It's been nice for us because he's a big physical blocker. He's been able to help our run game a lot, and he catches pretty much anything around him."
Brooks, 5-2, is at Lawrence Academy next Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Winning pitcher Paul Capozzi and Andover's Alex Hajdukiewicz combined on a 4-hitter and freshman Connor Breen had two hits a run and an RBI as Brooks beat Groton 5-1.